Information on the Ontario Test of English Achievement is presented. Attention is directed to the background and objectives of the test, test development, subtest characteristics and properties, validity, and recommendations concerning test use. The objective of the test was to determine the language competence of incoming students to assist…

The Natural Approach to second language instruction has theoretical flaws and tends to reverse teaching methods that have been used successfully for many years. The approach exaggerates the presumed failure of previous language programs and ignores some important characteristics of children's language learning processes. It assumes that explicit…

Modern black poetry has emerged as an art form whose viewpoint (theme), style (structure), and language (diction and usage) focus on a particular kind of sensibility and consciousness in conflict with the world in which the poetry moves. The black aesthetic addresses the consciousness of blackness and deplores traditional poetic niceties in favor…

A review of more than 500 empirical studies conducted since 1970 on the achievement of Mexican Americans identified prior claims supported and/or refuted by data, isolated promising hypotheses for further investigation or educational implementation, and made recommendations for improvement of schooling, school-home relations, and teacher…

A study examined the linguistic processes involved in the lexical modernization of Urdu and the extent to which the changes affect the efficiency of communication, the Urdu-speaking community, and the language itself. Data were drawn from the language used in popular Urdu daily papers and periodicals covering the complete range of activities in…

Contributed by high school English teachers across the United States, the activities contained in this booklet are intended to promote the effective teaching of English and the language arts. Activities described in the first section of the booklet focus on language exploration--specifically examining variations in pronunciation, definition, and…

A study investigated the use of questions and directives by bilingual children of variable relative proficiency in Spanish and English. Patterns in the use of each question and directive type were examined in relation to language proficiency and context of use. Qualitative characteristics of the questions and directives were analyzed. The subjects…

A study of some features of the language usage of nonnative English speakers focused on global communicative competence and the use of text-building devices. Subjects were the primary-school-age children of eight native Italian-, Greek-, and Macedonian-speaking migrant parents and a matched set of native-English-speaking classmates. The language…

Intended for practitioners in the field of behavior disorders, this monograph presents a measurement rather than method focus to reading and writing instruction that is heavily based on the premise of developing skills, practicing such skills, and measuring growth in such skills. Two measurement concepts--proficiency and learning measurement--are…

The articles in this special journal issue discuss specific methods and procedures for use by teachers in developing student competency in the use of English as a second language. Specific topics covered in the 12 articles are (1) teaching the functional usages of language, (2) teaching the persuasive uses of language, (3) developing the…

Bilingual education teachers need a clear understanding of the nature of language and language variation, and of how language relates to culture in order to be effective. With the needs of these teachers in mind, and drawing from anthropological linguistics and sociolinguistics, this chapter clarifies concepts of language and culture that have…

The result of a thorough search, review, and compilation of resources on women's equity, the annotated bibliography represents a sample of print materials, games and kits, photos and posters, and audiovisual aids now available on sexism that should prove useful to counselors, instructors, school administrators, parents, and elementary and…

A study examining the sociolinguistic context and emerging linguistic structure of English in a Northern Virginia Vietnamese community, based on taped interviews and limited writing samples, is presented. The subjects were 93 refugees categorized by age range (10-13, 15-18, 20-25, 35-55 years), length of residence in the United States (1-3 and 4-7…

Contributed by high school English teachers from across the United States, the activities contained in this booklet are intended to promote the effective teaching of English and the language arts. Activities described in the first section of the booklet focus on language exploration and include familiarizing students with dictionary information,…

This document describes a procedure designed to enhance the effectiveness of teaching in intermediate and advanced English as a second language (ESL) classes. The procedure consists of letting students express themselves in writing in their native language (whether French, Spanish, German, Portuguese, or Italian) and having the same students the…